What does 'moral' mean? Why be moral?

Christian View

Dictionary.com defines "moral" as "of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong".

Whenever we look at morality in a forum such as this, it is always helpful to present what is generally known as the "Moral Argument for the Existence of God". Briefly put, if an absolute and moral God does not exist, then objective moral values do not exist. However, objective moral values do exist (in other words, some actions are morally wrong whether someone believes they are wrong or not), and therefore, an absolute and moral God also exists.

Thus, the definition of moral behavior comes directly from God, and moral behavior is nothing other than obedience to God's commands.

The Bible teaches that we are to be moral because obedience to God glorifies He who created us, sustains us, and redeemed us. Obedience is accepted by God as worship (Romans 12:1) and is preferable to Him than sacrifice (Hosea 6:6).

In Matthew 22, when Jesus was asked what the most important of all God's commands was, He answered, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'. This is the first and greatest command. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Based on Christ's words, it has been frequently said that "love" is the greatest command.

According to the Bible, the reason Christians love is because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19).

He demonstrated His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8, John 3:16-17).

In John 14:15, Jesus tells his apostles what it means to love Him -- "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

In sum, we obey Christ because we love Him, and we love Him because He first loved us.

If you are like me, and have done things that are not morally right, that do not glorify God, then the Bible teaches that you deserve death (Romans 6:23). However, if you put your faith in Jesus, then He has paid the fines with His own shed blood for all of your immoral behavior (Colossians 1:19-23).

If you have not put your trust in Jesus Christ, there is no better time than now. The Bible states that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). God will then transform you, and you will then know how to truly love (1 John 4).

Comments

I thought this was very well explained and can identify with this.

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Sharon Hodgson

"To be "moral" is to act with mutual concern for your own happiness and the happiness of others. You should be moral because if you aren't, you will greatly increase the risk of accumulating factors harmful to your own happiness."

Cannot someone be made happy by things that are harmful...to others and themselves? What then?

"Though individual acts might not reward or harm you"

All acts have positive or negative effects, even if they are not readily apparent...and of course not just on the material plane but on the spiritual plane as well.

"It is therefore essential to cultivate the habit of moral behavior in order to manage risk and accumulate benefits."

Sounds somewhat selfish.

"This has been demonstrated by the sciences of sociology and psychology."

Uh...so before these 'sciences' came into being were people ignorant what brings happiness...did we really need these sciences to 'demonstrate' (how?) to us how to be happy.

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Frank

"Internally, we loathe people who do mean and dishonest and unreasonable things to us (or to those we care about), and admire people who do kind and honest and reasonable things for us (or those we care about). Consequently we will come to loathe ourselves if we become what we loathe"

What of those who take joy in either observing or even causing others to suffer?

"In short, life sucks if you're immoral. But if you become moral, life will be so much better and more enjoyable."

Maybe. Or you could be moral and still suffer.

—
Frank

"It is therefore essential to cultivate the habit of moral behavior in order to manage risk and accumulate benefits."

I have to say this sounds exactly like the mentality Hindu's associate with the third caste, the 'Vaishya' who we might call 'bourgeoisie'. We in the West may not be divided into castes, but we still have different mentalities that correspond to those of the caste system.

The Vaishya is a natural born objective materialist. For them, what is truly 'real' is prosperity, economic stability, quantities, etc. If such a one does become religious they are primarily concerned with accumulating merit with a view to future comfort in the afterlife. Modern science fits the Vaishya mentality as well.

Really, Mr. Carrier, you give quite a good representation of the Vaishya (or bourgeoisie) worldview. Materialistic, primarily concerned with costs and benefits, etc.

Actually, this mentality dominates our society (and the New Atheist movement as well).

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Frank

Frank, Richard's point is simply that you don't need a god or gods to be moral. The only thing that I'd add is that, contrary to the claims of faith-heads, being religious doesn't make you moral. Tim, for example, is convinced that slavery is fine and dandy.

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Tony

"Frank, Richard's point is simply that you don't need a god or gods to be moral."

Without an absolute standard to turn to there can be no morality.

This absolute standard is represented semi-absolutely in the various orthodox religious traditions (which are simply different possibilities for different times, peoples and places - God is infinite after all).

Outside of a traditional revealed religion there is only individual choice, and therefore chaos, not morality.

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Frank

Frank - what codswallop. How can an absolute standard be represented "semi-absolutely"? What on earth does "semi-absolutely" even mean? You're just making stuff up as you go along now aren't you? You're in good company with Tim.

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Tony

"Cannot someone be made happy by things that are harmful...to others and themselves? What then?"

I'm afraid I don't understand your confusion.

"To be "moral" is to act with mutual concern for your own happiness and the happiness of others. You should be moral because if you aren't, you will greatly increase the risk of accumulating factors harmful to your own happiness."

If you harm others for pleasure, then you are clearly more concerned for your own happiness than you are for the happiness of others, and as such are not acting morally. It's very clearly written - you even quoted the exact text.

Even if you derive pleasure from harming others, you shouldn't do it, because of those "factors harmful to your own happiness" - meaning that other humans will try to stop you from ever doing those things again, because they're harmful to others.

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Rafal

All humans are happiest when everyone obeys God. So obedience to God is definitively moral.

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Anonymous

I kinda get it but I'm Christian and my topic is if God exists what moral values are there and I can't find where it is at

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J.L

J.L,

In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus tells us that the most important moral law is to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind", and the second most important moral law is to "love your neighbor as yourself". He tells us that every moral law is bound up in these two principles.

If we wonder, "what does it mean to love my neighbor?", we can look through the Bible and find plenty of examples, such as not murdering (Exodus 20:13) or stealing (Exodus 20:15) from our neighbor; helping the poor (Psalm 41:1), widows and orphans (James 1:27), and sharing (Hebrews 13:16). There are plenty of other examples in the scriptures, though. This is a very brief sample list.

God bless!

—
Timothy McCabe

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